Hidden-Fastener Tool Cortlandt Manor NY

Premium synthetic decks are the heart of my deck-building business, and I use hidden fasteners on all of my projects. In fact, I’m so familiar with hidden clips and screws that I almost wince just typing about them.

Premium synthetic decks are the heart of my deck-building business, and I use hidden fasteners on all of my projects. In fact, I’m so familiar with hidden clips and screws that I almost wince just typing about them. Tedious and slow, my standard method of installation had been to place the clip in a groove on the deck board, then drive a small screw into the clip and joist using either a cordless drill or an impact driver. That is, until recently, when Tiger Claw, a maker of hidden deck fasteners, introduced the TC-Gun. TC-Gun Tiger Claw Hidden Fasteners800/928-4437 deckfastener.com Street price: $279

This innovative tool was designed to speed up the installation of the company’s own TC-G clips as well as TimberTech’s CONCEALoc clips (manufactured by Tiger Claw and privately labeled by TimberTech). Tiger Claw’s clips work with Fiberon, Latitudes, Portico, TimberTech, and Trex deck boards, and with pregrooved ipe, teak, and meranti.

The pneumatic TC-Gun, a relatively lightweight and compact modified joist-hanger nailer, installs clips dramatically faster than the traditional way. The user places the clip on a holder built into the nose of the gun and, in one motion, inserts the clip into the groove on the deck board while laying the gun’s nail magazine flat on the joist. A squeeze of the trigger fastens the clip with a screw — not a nail.

Sometimes combination tools have to make too many compromises to perform their numerous functions. Fortunately, that's not the case with Hitachi's new KM 12VC router combination kit. This smartly designed, solidly constructed, and well-outfitted tool fulfills its promises as a fixed-base and plunge-base router. And, at $180 you've got a tool that pulls its weight without asking much in return.